Apparatus for applying ultraviolet normally transparent indicia to bottle caps

ABSTRACT

Apparatus for coding containers by marking with normally transparent and invisible indicia. The containers are marked by advancing the container past a marking station and bringing a marking member past the station and into contact with the container while moving both the container and marking member at the same rate. Ultraviolet ink is suitable for use as a marking material since it is normally invisible, but can be recalled when desired. Apparatus includes a marking mechanism comprised of a plurality of radially aligned wheels including a drive-transfer wheel frictionally engaged with the surfaces of an ink supply wheel and a marking wheel, and a variable speed motor connected to rotate said drive-transfer wheel and said printing wheel at selected peripheral speeds such that there is not relative motion between the marking wheel and the container being marked.

United States Patent 101/35 101/35 283/6 UX 101/35X 101/35 [72] Inventor Sheldon L. Wilde Crawtordsville, Ind. [21] Appl. No. 776,114

[22] Filed Nov. 15, 1968 [45] Patented June 29, 1971 Assignee H-C lndustries,1nc.

FOREIGN PATENTS 859,436 1/1961 Great Britain........,.......

Primary Examiner-Robert E. Pulfrey Assistant Examiner-Clifi'ord D. Crowder [54] APPARATUS FOR APPLYING ULTRAVIOLET NORMALLY TRANSPARENT lNDlClA T0 BOTTLE CAPS Attorney-Dressler, Goldsmith, Clement and Gordon 1 Claim, 6 Drawing Fig.

ABSTRACT: Apparatus for coding containers by marking with normally transparent and invisible indicia. The containers are marked by advancing the container past a marking station and bringing a marking member past the station and into contact with the container while moving both t e con- MSOMS.

ill 3 0 2 lnt. [50] tainer and marking member at the same rate. Ultraviolet ink is suitable for use as a marking material since it is normally invisible, but can be recalled when desired. Apparatus includes [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 970,839 9/1910 1,303,042 5/1919 Dowson et a1.

101/37 a marking mechanism comprised of a plurality of radially 101/37 101/35 UX igned wheels including a drive-transfer wheel frictionally engaged with the surfaces of an ink supply wheel and a marking wheel, and a variable speed motor connected to rotate said 2,375,362 5/1945 Hirsch 2,790,386

4/1957 Klaus.....

2,041,574 5/1936 Smallen drive-transfer wheel and said printing wheel at selected 2,674,939 4/1954 Brengman................

peripheral speeds such that there is not relative rnotion V 1 /3 5 between the marking wheel and the container being marked,

PATENTEUJUHESIHH 3589280 SHEU 1 [1F 3 JIIHIL APPARATUS FOR APPLYING ULTRAVIOLET NORMALLY TRANSPARENT INDlCllA TO BOTTLE CAPS BACKGROUND Various products which are packaged have a limited shelf life, or for other reasons, the date of production or packaging must be indicated on the container. In many cases, this presents no problem, such as in paper cartons, or large containers where the appropriate information can simply be printed in an available space on the container. Other types of containers, such as canned goods, include date information stamped into one end of the can. Alternatively, if it is desired to provide this information without making it readily apparent, such information can be printed as part of the package as some type of code word.

However, there are many instances where it is difficult to imprint such information on a package, a typical example being bottled goods wherein the only portion of the bottle package that is not permanent or reusable is the bottle cap. It is readily apparent that the surface of most bottle caps is completely filled with decorative, or functional printing identifying the manufacturer of the product, or the product it- I self. It is difficult, therefore, to apply any other informative in dicia or markings without detracting from the appearance of the cap due to the limited area available for such use,

SUMMARY In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a method and apparatus for marking portions of containers, such as bottle caps, in a manner that will not detract from the appearance of the package. There is provided an apparatus and method for marking the surface of such a container with a normally transparent and invisible marking which is not readily discernible, under normal lighting conditions, but which may readily be observed simply by subjecting the surface to which the markings have been applied to reproduction environment, such as a special form of lighting which renders the markings visible for inspection.

One suitable medium for such use is ultraviolet ink, which when exposed to daylight and normal artificial light is substantially invisible and transparent. For this reason, markings formed from such ultraviolet ink can be deposited on top of previously printed decorative or informative material without interfering with the appearance of such material. The normally transparent marks are applied to the surface of containers simply and readily by advancing the containers along a selected path, by bringing the surface to be marked in contact with a marking member moving at the same rate as the containers to be marked.

Apparatus for effecting application of the normally transparent marks includes a plurality of radially aligned wheels. A first or marking wheel contacts the surface to be marked and is driven by a drive-transfer wheel in frictional contact therewith. The drive-transfer wheel also drives an ink supply wheel, thereby controlling the amount of ink transferred to the marking wheel and to the container surface.

The surface of themarking wheel includes a repetitive pattern of marking elements, thereby avoiding the necessity of close synchronization between the wheel and the containers to be marked. Because the markings are normally transparent and invisible, a plurality of marking elements are designed to contact the surface to be marked without detracting from its appearance.

The apparatus is readily adjustable relative to the surface to be marked in order to allow various sizes and shapes of containers to be marked. Furthermore, by avoiding close synchronization between the marking wheel and the containers to be marked, different shapes and sizes of containers can be marked simply be adjusting the peripheral speed of the marking wheel to eliminate relative motion between the surface of the marking wheel and the container being marked as they make contact.

Numerous other advantages and features of the present invention will become readily apparent from the following detailed description of the invention and of one embodiment thereof, from the claims and from the accompanying drawings in which each and every detail shown if fully and completely disclosed as a part of this specification, in which like numerals refer to like parts.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an end view partly broken away of one embodiment of a marking apparatus incorporating the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the apparatus of FIGURE 1;

FIG. 3 is a side view of the apparatus of FIGURE 1; and

FIGS. 4, 5, and 6 are diagrammatic views showing how apparatus of the present invention can be adjusted to effect the desired imprinting on various containers.

Referring now to the drawings, there is seen how various containers 10, such as caps 11 of bottles 12, or the tops 14 or sides 16 of cans 18 can have marked thereon normally invisible indicia by passing the containers 10 past a marking member 18, shown in the form of amarking wheel 20, whereby the surface of the marking member 18 contacts the container 10. The marking apparatus includes the marking wheel 20, an ink supply wheel 22 having a portion of its surface passing through a supply 24 of marking material such as ultraviolet ink, and a drive-transfer wheel 26 having its surface frictionally engaged with the surfaces of the ink supply wheel 22 and the marking wheel 20. A variable speed electric motor 28 is connected to the drive-transfer wheel 26 through a suitable coupling 30 to rotate the wheel 26 and the ink supply wheel 22 and marking wheel 20 through the frictional engagement therebetween. By varying the speed of the motor 28, the peripheral speed of the marking wheel 20 can be adjusted to coincide with the translational movement of the containers 10 to be marked to eliminate relative motion between the surface of the marking wheel and the container 10 in contact therewith.

In order to accommodate various sizes and shapes of containers, the wheels 20, 22, and 26 and the motor 28 are mounted on a support plate 32, which is slidably supported on a vertically adjustable support stand 34! by means of a bolt and slot arrangement 36. The support stand 34 includes a fixed outer member 38 and a telescoping adjustable inner member 40, the bottom 42 of which is provided with a threaded aperture 44. An adjusting screw 46 provided in the outer member 38 is threaded into the aperture 44 to raise and lower the inner telescoping portion .40 relative to the fixed outer portion 38. Vertical movement of the inner telescoping portion 40 adjusts the vertical position of the marking wheel 20.

The containers to be marked, such as bottles 12, are advanced along a conveyor belt 48 and contact the marking wheel 20. A plurality of characters 50 on the printing wheel 20 come into contact with the surface to be marked, such as the bottle caps 11. Since precise location of the marks is not necessary due to their normal transparent and invisible condition, the location of the marking wheel character 50 need not be synchronized to the position of the containers being marked, as long as there is no relative movement between the periphery of the marking wheel 20 and the surface of the container with which it makes contact. Immediately after imprinting, the containers may be inspected. In the case of ultraviolet ink, inspection is accomplished by simply exposing the marked surface to an ultraviolet light source 52 which renders the normally transparent marks visible. The marks are then dried by passing the marked containers under a drier 54, such as heating lamps.

Thus there has been disclosed a method and apparatus for applying normally invisible indicia representative of various desired information to the surface of containers without detracting from the appearance of such containers. The method and apparatus of the present invention allow for the application of coded data representing, for example, variable dated information which otherwise could not readily be incorporated as a part of many packages due to the limited space available therefor. The coded data, being normally invisible, permits the usual printed material to be seen without interference under normal conditions, but allows the normally invisible indicia to be rendered visible when it is desired to obtain the information represented thereby.

From the foregoing, it will be observed that numerous variations and modifications may be efiected without departing from the true spirit and scope of the novel concept of the in vention. It is, of course, intended to cover by the appended claims all such modifications as fall within the scope of the claims.

What I claim is:

1. Apparatus for applying ultraviolet normally transparent indicia to the top surface of bottle caps attached to bottles comprising in combination three rotatable wheels, said wheels including an ink pickup wheel having one surface passing through a source of ultraviolet ink, a markizig wheel having a plurality of closely spaced marking characters disposed about its surface, and a drive-transfer wheel having its surface engaged with the surfaces of said ink supply wheel and said marking wheel, drive means for rotating said drive-transfer wheel to rotate said ink pickup wheel and said marking wheel by frictional engagement therewith to transfer ink from said ink supply wheel to the said drive-transfer wheel and from said drive-transfer wheel to the surface of said marking characters, means for controlling the speed of said rotating means to rotate said marking wheel at a selected peripheral speed, means for laterally positioning said marking wheel to axially align said wheel with the advancing bottles, means for vertically adjusting the position of said marking wheel to locate one tangential surface thereof in the plane defined by the top surfaces of the bottle caps attached to the advancing bottles, and means for advancing a plurality of bottles below said marking wheel at a rate equal to the peripheral speed of said marking wheel whereby the tops of said bottle caps contact the surface of said marking characters to effect transfer of ultraviolet ink iridicia to the surface of said bottle caps. 

1. Apparatus for applying ultraviolet normally transparent indicia to the top surface of bottle caps attached to bottles comprising in combination three rotatable wheels, said wheels including an ink pickup wheel having one surface passing through a source of ultraviolet ink, a marking wheel having a plurality of closely spaced marking characters disposed about its surface, and a drive-transfer wheel having its surface engaged with the surfaces of said ink supply wheel and said marking wheel, drive means for rotating said drive-transfer wheel to rotate said ink pickup wheel and said marking wheel by frictional engagement therewith to transfer ink from said ink supply wheel to the said drive-transfer wheel and from said drive-transfer wheel to the surface of said marking characters, means for controlling the speed of said rotating means to rotate said marking wheel at a selected peripheral speed, means for laterally positioning said marking wheel to axially align said wheel with the advancing bottles, means for vertically adjusting the position of said marking wheel to locate one tangential surface thereof in the plane defined by the top surfaces of the bottle caps attached to the advancing bottles, and means for advancing a plurality of bottles below said marking wheel at a rate equal to the peripheral speed of said marking wheel whereby the tops of said bottle caps contact the surface of said marking characters to effect transfer of ultraviolet ink indicia to the surface of said bottle caps. 